On 19 June 2020, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Federation in JINR Valery Nikolaevich Falkov paid the first official visit to JINR in the frames of the regular session of the Committee of Plenipotentiary Representatives of the Governments of the JINR Member States.

The session of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries organized in the video conference format was chaired by V. N. Falkov. JINR Director V. A. Matveev opened the session and welcomed the participants. V. A. Matveev in his report presented scientific results of the Institute in the key JINR research fields obtained since the previous CP session in Hanoi (Vietnam, November 2019). JINR Director also informed participants of the session about the measures taken at the Institute to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection as well as to ensure operation of the Institute being a continuously operating organization. He highlighted that work on the NICA accelerator complex continued during the entire period of the Institute’s special working regime.

After the report by JINR Director, participants of the session heard information presented by JINR Vice-Director R. Lednický about the selection of an audit organization for auditing JINR’s financial activities for 2019. The draft of the Staff Regulation of JINR was presented by JINR Assistant Director for Human Resources A. V. Ruzaev. The Committee of Plenipotentiaries took note of the information presented by V. A. Matveev about the written approval by the Plenipotentiary Representatives of the decisions on forming the Institute’s Directorate and the endorsement of appointments of First JINR Vice-Director G. V. Trubnikov and Vice-Directors S. N. Dmitriev and B. Yu. Sharkov. JINR Chief Scientific Secretary A. S. Sorin presented the proposal of the JINR Directorate to elect Ani Aprahamian, Director of the A. Alikhanyan National Laboratory (YePI, Yerevan, Armenia), Professor of the Department of Physics of the University of Notre Dame (USA) as a Member of the Scientific Council. The CP members considered the draft Regulations on the Prize of the JINR Committee of Plenipotentiaries developed by the JINR Directorate. The Prize is proposed to promote scientific teams for achievements in research and developments. A. S. Sorin also presented the proposal of the JINR Directorate to award the CP Prize to the scientific teams of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Headed by Yu. Ts. Oganessian for the idea, development and successful implementation of the project of the accelerator complex “Superheavy Element Factory”. The CP heard information “About the resumption of the full membership of the Republic of Uzbekistan in JINR” presented by Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan B. S. Yuldashev.

CP Chairman V. N. Falkov was the first to comment on calling the election of the next Director of the Institute and proposed to hold it at the next CP session in November 2020. Moreover, the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia on behalf of the Government of the JINR residence country nominated RAS Academician G. V. Trubnikov for the position of the new JINR Director for consideration by the Plenipotentiary Representatives referring to the decisions and recommendations of the JINR CP session held in November 2019 in Hanoi (Vietnam). Furthermore, he proposed to introduce the position of the JINR Scientific Leader. “Dear colleagues, I count on the support by the JINR Member States of the offer of calling the election, the proposed candidate and the introduction of the position of the Scientific Leader of the Institute,” V. N. Falkov said.

JINR Director Academician V. A. Matveev supported the suggestion of the Russian Federation of the election date as well as expressed support on behalf of the JINR Directorate of the nomination of G. V. Trubnikov for the position of the next JINR Director. The Committee of Plenipotentiaries approved the proposals of Plenipotentiary Representative of Russia V. N. Falkov and JINR Director Academician V. A. Matveev. The JINR Member States unanimously approved the proposed candidate.

The session of the Committee was concluded with general discussion and decision-making. More details about the results of the CP session will be available in the upcoming issue of the JINR Weekly Newspaper. Information about the past CP session can also be found on the Minobrnauki website.

V. N. Falkov noted the following commenting on the event to the JINR media: “The Institute is unique: it has a rich history, dynamic development and special atmosphere. The strength of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is not only its traditions but also the fact that you can establish strong scientific collaborations and partnerships. The key is people creating this atmosphere and providing the result the country is proud of and that attracts here people from various countries all over the world.”

Commenting on the session of the Committee of Plenipotentiaries, JINR Director V. A. Matveev said in particular: “It is the first in the JINR history session of the Committee of Plenipotentiary Representatives held remotely. Nevertheless, it is demonstrating that all the representatives of the Member States are ready to take an active part in the management of the Institute, in discussions of its problems, in solving these problems despite being distracted by the fight with the COVID-19 coronavirus. We are very happy that today new Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian Federation in JINR, Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Valery Nikolaevich Falkov took part in the CP session, the supreme governing body of JINR. And we hope that his visit is a favourable sign. The Russian Federation provides great support of the Institute’s activities in general and of the NICA project implementation in particular. Russia allocates huge funds to support this project. That is why personal but not remote participation of the Plenipotentiary Representative of Russia is a great pleasure to us. If we consider 2020, we are now at the equator of the seven-year period, and we will face the most complex tasks in its second half. We are supposed to complete and launch new facilities and new projects that started three and a half years ago. We see that despite all the limitations caused by the coronavirus, the Institute’s staff has a considerable desire to work and implement the plans to the full extent.”

Photos by Elena Puzynina